WC144 SeptOct 2025 - Magazine - Page 26
potential to influence changes in
external sources. The approach was
qualitative and presented numerous
challenges, particularly due to the
complexity of the integrated urban
“Merelyconsideringafacility’stotalemissionscanbemisleadingunless
system. There are often multiple
factors to consider, and they may
utilitiesevaluateemissionsrelativetomanyfactors,suchasthefacility’s
have varying degrees of impact on
GHG emissions. This easy-to-use
production昀氀ow,toensureanaccurate,comparableassessment.”
OWWA/WEAO tool, designed
for Ontario, can be leveraged and
transformed to support water
utilities across Canada in gaining a
deeper understanding of their emissions and making more informed
decisions.
A deeper understanding of each
facility better positioned the Region
to consider its GHG impact when
optimizing existing facilities or
building additional water treatment
facilities. This will support decision-making for strategic investments to achieve the Region’s broader climate commitments, including
its goal to reduce GHG emissions
by 80 per cent by 2050.
The Region’s experience provides
a valuable case study for other
municipalities aiming to incorporate
climate action into water planning.
By using the OWWA/WEAO
The OWWA/WEAO tool enabled a better understanding of GHG emissions for the overall
GHG Inventory Tool, the Region
drinking water treatment system.
has not only enhanced its understanding of emissions but also inthat reducing direct and indirect emissions would require a collabcreased its capacity to make data-driven, climate-conscious
orative effort among internal departments (e.g., procurement) and
decisions regarding its water supply. The project team will
external organizations (e.g., chemical producers). Equipped with
be able to use the observations from the existing conditions
data to facilitate these conversations, the Region is better prepared
to estimate the emissions for proposed options. This will
to effect real change.
help the Region to assign scoring for the environmental criFor those looking to complete facility-by-facility comparisons,
teria, specifically regarding the ability to minimize climate
in-depth institutional knowledge of each facility is essential to fulchange impacts.
ly understand the results of this tool and support decision-making.
To explore more about the Region’s findings and how the
Merely considering a facility’s total emissions can be misleading
OWWA/WEAO GHG Inventory Tool is supporting Canaunless utilities evaluate emissions relative to many factors, such as
da’s first Net Zero Water Roadmap, visit the Canadian Water
the facility’s production flow, to ensure an accurate, comparable
Network’s website at cwn-rce.ca. The Net Zero Roadmap
assessment.
project is funded by the Government of Canada’s Low CarBefore the development of the OWWA/WEAO GHG Invenbon Economy Fund Implementation Readiness stream.
tory Tool, water utilities across Canada found that completing
To stay informed or contribute to the Water Supply
emission inventories was primarily limited to direct emissions,
Strategy Update, visit the Region’s EngageWR - engagewr.
often due to a lack of clarity about indirect emissions and their
ca - page for updates and engagement opportunities.
26
WATER C AN ADA • SEP TEMBER/OCTOBER 2025
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
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CONSERVATION
